exercises in education; the study of music, especially of national songs; the necessity of teaching children, with the greatest care, the history of their country, and especially the great deeds and victories of the German people, etc. The second sitting of the Congress received a visit from the Grand Duke of Baden, who uttered a few words of welcome to the assembly, and who was received with much enthusiasm.

MISSING NUMBERS.-Complaints are frequently received that THE TEACHER fails to reach its subscribers. The mailing is carefully attended to by one of the resident editors in person; and while we are thus assured that the fault is not at this office, we are willing to supply any persons who inform us of their loss, so long as we have back numbers on hand.

OMITTED. By some inadvertence the name of Solomon Bush, of San José, was omitted in the published list of teachers who passed examination before the State Board last May. Mr. Bush received a State certificate of the second grade.

PROBLEM FOR THE BOYS.-A flagstaff with a single line several feet longer than the staff attached to its top, having been erected perpendicular to a horizontal plain, a schoolboy observed that he could ascertain the hight of the staff without ascending it or detaching the line. How could he do it? TRUE.

TO CONTRIBUTORS.-We have received several valuable papers for which there is no room in this number of THE TEACHER. A lively paper on "Feet,” though not especially concerning our field of labor, might have obtained greater favor, only the writer forgot the imperative law of periodicals, that the editors must know the names of their writers; not necessarily for publication, but as a protection to themselves.

We thank our friends for their favors. Let them keep on doing as they have just begun. One side of a sheet, however, if you please, gentlemen and ladies; and remember that an article making two pages in print is better than one of twenty for all the purposes of this journal.

The article in the present number upon "Geographical Origins," is from a recent graduate of one of the San Francisco public schools. It may serve as a hint to the advanced students in the country schools that their studies may be made of use in a similar way to the readers of THE CALIFORNIA TEACHER.

PERSONAL.-T. W. J. Holbrook, who received a State diploma last May, also a member of the California Educational Society, has recently been elected Principal of the public school in District No. 1, San José. Mr. Holbook is just the man for the position. An enthusiastic worker in the cause of education, his influence is sure to be felt in that valley. Our San José friends "struck a lead" when they secured his services, in our opinion.-J. J. Bowen, one of our contributing editors, has also been elected to a Principalship at San José. If we knew anything against him we wouldn't tell of it, since he is in THE TEACHER family; but we don't.—J. D. Littlefield, late of Petaluma public schools, has gone away from home. He went to Arizona, being smitten with

the "feet" mania, under favorable auspices. He is going to write us all about the educational interests of the natives over yonder, and when he comes back rich and happy we shall put him at work in the public schools somewhere, so that he may be useful again.-T. C. Barker, of this city, has accepted a position in the Preparatory College School at Oakland. We feel like giving him a "first-rate notice," for he has proved himself worthy of one; but he is so modest he wouldn't be able to look at THE TEACHER again in five years without blushing, if we should tell half the truth about him. We forget how many languages he knows, but we distinctly remember trying him in Choctaw, and he did not understand us; so we are confident he don't know everything. We think he is a good teacher, and we are very confident he is a good fellow.-Geo. W. Simonton, of Rockville, Solano County, gave our sanctum a call the other day, and praised his people so roundly we must speak of them. The trustees become responsible personally to the teacher; save him the trouble of collecting ratebills; and, better still, the district furnishes all the books used in the school, besides giving a good house and apparatus. We shall believe in Rockville after this; and when we retire from THE TEACHER with a competency, that is the place we shall settle down in, if we have our choice.-Henry Melrose, of Sonoma County, has resigned his position as teacher of children in the public schools, and purposes to become a teacher of men, and children too, in the "way of life." We rather think he will like theology. The fact is, good teachers take to being good preachers very naturally.—Mr. H. P. Carlton, of the Department of Public Instruction, has complied with the request of the Normal Board that he should enter the State Normal School as Associate Principal. Mr. C. enters upon his duties with the understanding that he may retire from the arduous duties of the position at the close of the current year, if the state of his health should render such retirement desirable. We are happy to chronicle this recognition of Mr. Carlton's merit in the teacher's profession upon the part of the Normal Board; and we heartily recommend him to all interested in the School, as in all respects eminently qualified for the work. Prof. Swezey will act as Deputy Superintendent during the absence of Mr. Carlton.

PACHECO-THE SCHOOL-HOUSE AND THE JAIL.-Pacheco should have a painting of these two buildings now. An artist would say that these two buildings are typical of their power. The "school-house and the jail." Do we ask which shall win in this beautiful valley?

On a space of open ground, there stands the jail; behind it the school-house. How long shall the jail hold the front rank? We trust that there is a growing power within that little school-house and the friends of education, to crowd that jail, and the crimes that fill that jail, off that square, out of town, and away out of sight.

Press on, teacher, pupil, and friend, and bring the school-house in its power aud influence into the front rank. A pleasant chat, a brief hour only with the earnest teacher, assured me his heart is in the right place. Oh, what a power for good or evil the school-teacher possesses. The school has 60 scholars;

the census gives 218.

The school is kept eight months in the year. The average attendance is 40 pupils. J. N. Burke, Esq., is the teacher. The schoolhouse, the pulpit, and the press, these are the triune for liberty; and when these do their work well, the jail, treason, and crime will flee from the front rank, and hide in obscurity.

Pacheco preacher, teacher, and editor, work on, work on! in the fair valley of Pacheco. Let education drive away crime; let patriotism drive away treason, where the owls and bats meet, into caves and hollow trees, and let the pulpit preach of love to God and good will to man.-California Farmer.

SHORT, BUT TO THE POINT.-The State Teachers' Association of Indiana, numbering one hundred and seventy teachers, at their late meeting summed up the political situation in a very few words, by unanimously adopting the following platform:

"Resolved, 1. That the Union Government is right, and the rebellion is wrong.

66 'Resolved, 2. That we will sustain the right and oppose the wrong by all the legiti mate means which God has placed in our power."

GRAMMARIANS give as a reason why a blow leaves a blue mark, that blow, in the past tense, is blew.

WHY is an author the most peculiar of animals? Because his tale comes out of his head.

QUESTION IN GEOMETRY.-Given a river as a base, what figure does a fisherman's rod and line form in junction with it? A try-angle, most undoubtedly. WHY is the pupil of the eye like a bad boy at school? Because it is always under the lash.

It is said that with a Yankee every day is a day of reckoning.

BOOK TABLE. We have received from H. H. Bancroft & Co., publishers, Montgomery Street, the following:

A GRAMMAR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. By Samuel S. Greene; pp. 264.

The action of the State Board of Education upon grammars has rendered it unnecessary for us to express an opinion upon what is the best text-book in grammar for the use of our public schools. Still, it is desirable to notice all the new works, for the mere fact that a certain author is to be used chiefly in the school room, by no means excuses the teacher from examining the results to which other authors have come in the same science. Besides, there are many among our readers who are engaged in private schools, and to them it is no less a matter of interest since the State list was adopted than before to know what books are best for their respective classes. This new work of Prof. Greene is designed to furnish all the knowledge concerning grammar which is essential for the pupils in our common schools to obtain. We regard it as a very excellent book-one which would render a change of texts in grammar, wherever it is used, entirely unnecessary. It is simple, clear, concise, and correct. It is a good book for a teacher to have.

LIFE IN THE OPEN AIR. By Theodore Winthrop.

This volume may not have the spice of John Brent in it, but it has the aroma of the woods of Maine, and that is sufficient. "Love on Skates " might have been made into as charming a novel as has been read this century, if it had been worked out and finished. As it is, it is an intoxicating fragment, and gives only a smack of what we should have had. The critique upon the Heart of the Andes is enough of itself, however, to pay for the volume twice over. Winthrop was sacrificed too early.

MARIAN GREY; OR THE HEIRESS OF REDSTONE HALL. By Mrs. Mary J. Holmes; pp. 400. We do not recommend to lady teachers the practice of reading novels; but if they will read them, they ought to be assisted in selecting the best. After they have finished the Waverleys, and Cooper's, and Dicken's, and Thackeray's, and have reached the stage where a woman's story will meet their wants, we suggest that they try Mrs. Holmes, who writes so as to interest her readers, and at the same time do them no harm. This last work of hers is perhaps her best. It is an American story, involving some of the traits of character most prominent in Kentucky, and giving here and there choice scenes which bring loud laughter, and others that draw from sensitive ladies tears.

THE STORY OF ELIZABETH; pp. 224.

This neatly printed little volume is reprinted from the Cornhill Magazine, and is understood to have been written by a daughter of Thackeray. We read it through, and then passed it along to a lady friend who is better versed in novels than we are for her opinion. She said it was a very good story, and we presume, therefore, it will please the majority of our lady readers.

EATON'S ARITHMETIC.

Amid the multiplicity of arithmetics put forth since the days of Pike and of Daboll, we think Eaton's is second to none, and far superior to most. The unprecedented favor with which it has been received in all the New England schools is a good recommendation, and its adoption in the " Hub of the Universe" is no sign that it is tinctured with the theology of the Puritans. The Primary Arithmetic is very prettily illustrated, well arranged, clear, simple, and concise. In the Common School Arithmetic, the simple, elementary, practical principles of the science are very fully presented, while the more intricate and less important facts are very briefly treated or entirely omitted. It contains no arithmetical puzzles; and all the principles requisite for a practical business life are presented in a simple, intelligible, and attractive manner. The explanations are concise and clear, but the subject of “Analysis" is not made a Normal School hobby. On the whole, it is a book which will exactly suit teachers of good judgment and good common sense, who teach arithmetic as a part of education, and who do not believe that "cyphering" is the great end of existence.

THERE is no one of the various branches of knowledge to which the attention of youth is directed in our common schools, which better repays a careful and intelligent application, than the study of English grammar. Language is the expression of thought, and is the medium through which mankind communicate with each other concerning the multiform relations of life, as well as the subtler operations of the mind.

im

Grammar is the study of language, and it is certainly very portant that it should be learned accurately and completely. In the ordinary transactions of every-day life how much often depends on a man's expressing his thought precisely in words-on his saying just what he means, neither more nor less; and, as we ascend into the higher realms of intellect and science, we find that accuracy in the use of words is absolutely essential to real progress. It is evident, then, that the practical application of the principles of this science has a range which is unsurpassed by that of any other, even that of mathematics.

It is not proposed, however, in this essay, to consider the subject

* An address delivered before the State Teachers' Institute at San Francisco.